Just say I Do...that is not the end!

Knowing Christ as Both Savior and Lord

The commitment that I had made at the Billy Graham Crusade as a teenager was real, but it was only the first step. Now I needed to take the second step, I recommitted my life to Christ, i.e. to actually live for him. I was beginning to understand that it is important for every Christian to ask, “What is it that God wants me to do with my life?” It is the answer to that question that enables us to discover the ministry passion God has planted within us.

Now, thirty years latter, I realize that during those early days of mentoring I was also learning to think differently about the church and its ministry. In the past I was familiar with various churches but I always thought about their ministries in terms of a few programs for church families. But now I was beginning to realize that it really isn’t about doing programs for a few; rather it is about unleashing the passion that God’s people have for the masses.

(How do you learn to think differently? The first place is ask what the whole council of God says, for example my whole life I thought the sin of Sodom and Gomorra was sexual sin, but then you read what Ezekiel says an it makes you think differently.” Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She hand her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.” Esekeil16:49.)

I ended up with a seminary degree and serving on the pastoral staffs of churches ranging in size from 300 to my present church where over 10,000 people are in attendance weekly. The more I have learned about my faith and about American churches, the more I appreciate the “unleashing message” that had struck such a deep cord with me years ago.